I’d like to thank the publishers for a copy of the book, The Stall of Second Chances by Dana Bate.

This is the second book written by author Dana Bate. Her first book was the highly successful The Secret Supper Club. Dana Bate is a writer, living in Philadelphia. When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found in her kitchen, whipping up a new recipe from her extensive cookbook collection. The Stall of Second Chances is available now in paperback and kindle format, amazon link:

I love foodie fiction books and the cover of this novel is very retro looking.

Sydney loves food, not just the eating part but the history, science and culture around it. Her dream job is to be a cookery reporter. When Sydney loses her job she has to take any work that comes her way to pay the bills. She ends up working at a local farmer’s market meeting and working with new, unique, quirky and charming characters. Her dream job is still simmering in the background. Will Sydney risk her new job, her new friendships on a story that could make front page news? Sydney is also suffering from a broken heart. Can she give love a second chance and can she be given a second chance in her career path?

This book is well written and the story flows at the right speed to keep you engaged. Dana’s writing style is quite frank and funny at times and she has created a wonderful character in Sydney. I loved the mixture of fun, quirkiness, romance mixed in with the delight of lots of food! A fun 5/5* read.

Here is a snippet from the book:

The publishers have kindly offered to giveaway a copy of The Stall of Second Chances, please enter via clicking the rafflecopter link below. I’d love you to leave a comment on this blog post informing me of your favourite cupcake flavour. Also, if you’d like to keep up with my ramblings and reviews please hover to the bottom of my blog page to the +follow sign and subscribe via email to my blogposts. I promise all you will get in return is updates of blog posts.

Christmas is a magical time and what better than to indulge in a little Christmas magic than with a festive book. I loved this little novella. The story is magical, heartwarming and is full of hope for new beginnings. Kiley, the main female character, is recently single and recently unemployed. She is feeling pretty miserable at the run-up to Christmas. Whilst out with friends she is drawn to an antiques shop. Her eyes are alerted to a snow globe for sale and is instantly mesmerised by its beauty. The shop owner approaches her and reveals the unusual story behind the snow globe. We follow the story with Kiley and her friends welcoming the snow globe into their lives and embracing the changes it brings with it. 3.5/5*

I must admit, this is my favourite of the 3 books. It is a sweet Christmas story written from the points of view of a homeless ginger cat and a kind hearted fireman who takes pity on Ambrose the cat. It was clever of the author to write sections of the story from Ambrose, the cat, point of view and also from Zach, the fireman, point of view. Ambrose had such funny anecdotes of how he perceived human relationships. He was a clever cat and worked out human behaviour better than us! A lovely, heartwarming, funny, romantic, festive story. 4.5/5*

Joy’s husband hates Christmas and the whole party season. Laura’s husband is the complete opposite, he loves parties that much he invites all and sundry to their home far too often. Joy decides that this year she’ll support her husband to have no celebrations at Christmas. Laura has had enough of cleaning up after her husband and his many merry friends and declares no parties this Christmas. The girls announce their ‘no Christmas pact’ to their friends at the knitting group and are soon supported by all of them when they all decide to go ‘on strike for Christmas’. Can the men in their lives cope without Christmas and celebrating or will they attempt to make Christmas happen themselves. This is a fun, festive read that is comical, enlightening and heartwarming; lessons are soon learned from both sides of the couples.4/5*

On Strike for Christmas was made into a movie for the Lifetime Channel and The Nine Lives of Christmas is being made into a movie for The Hallmark Channel.